But one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 3:13-14
It can be difficult to impossible to become what God wants to make of us and to attain the Promised Land while holding on to the past. The past gets in the way of our moving forward, preventing freedom from hurts and resentments, from patterns of behavior and addictions, and from false sources of security. Much like the children of Israel who could not stop looking behind them and longing for Egypt, where they had lived as slaves, and so could not come to fully trust God and move forward to claim their Promised Land, we all too often wind up wondering deserts of our own as we fail to trust Him and look to the hell we know and have grown accustomed to instead of the promised, better. abundant life we have trouble believing exists.
The future is foggy at best. We just don't know what's out there. Sometimes we treat the past like an anchor that we tie ourselves to before making our way into the scary and great unknown. Feeling our way, ready to run back to the weight when things get rough, we ease forward slowly. But the truth is, the weight only slows our progress and doesn't keep us safe at all. God, who can see what's coming, can guide us and direct us through the foggy deserts and to the land of promise if we will listen and trust Him.
We have to let go of the past, that comfortable misery. We need to rid ourselves of its distraction. Jesus said, "Behold I make all things new." No matter how many times we have fallen short, given up and failed, we can let go of what happened yesterday and press on toward the prize. What is the prize? The prize is to be made completely new, freed from all areas of sin and bondage, and to have a perfect and special unhindered relationship with our Creator that will never end.
It is available to us all, by His grace and not by our efforts. Our past is forgiven if we ask, and His grace is there to help us finally stop repeating the cycle of destruction in our lives. We do not have to allow the past to continue to control our future. We can ask Jesus to cut the rope and set us free to walk with Him. We may need some help to let it go, we may need to talk it out or write it out, we may need some therapy or counseling, and we will definitely need His grace. But the good news is that nothing is stronger than God's love for us, not even the chains and anchor of our past.
Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on
June 1, 2016.
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